


More Than Once

by Nevermore_red



Series: Just Once (not enough) [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Follow up, Fred Weasley Lives, Kissing, Mentions of death and injury, Post-Battle of Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 18:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16023923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevermore_red/pseuds/Nevermore_red
Summary: Follow up of Just Once. Hermione and Fred reunite after the battle.





	More Than Once

After the battle and being assured that his family was fully intact and living, Fred’s thoughts immediately shifted to where they often did these days. He’d seen Hermione earlier, before and during the fighting, and again after. She was dirty and tired and skinnier than she had been last he’d seen her, but she was alive and when their eyes met a small but true smile curled her lips. They hadn’t spoken, but there was time now.

Leaving his family in the Great Hall, he started his search for her, but Harry had grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Are you alright?” Harry asked, eyes scanning Fred’s torn and bloodied clothes. There was a deep gash that started above his right eyebrow and slashed down over his cheek and jaw where it ended in a nick to his neck. That, along with some other cuts and bruises, were reminders of how close a wall had come to ending it all.

“Peachy, Potter.” Fred winked his left eye, his right too swollen with the cut to be effective. “And you?”

“Thankful that it’s over.” Harry ran a hand over his already messy hair. “You looking for ‘Mione?”

“Uh,” Fred huffed a surprised laugh. He hadn’t known that anyone else knew. Knew what, he wasn’t sure. “Yeah. You know where she got off to?”

“Out front.” He tipped his head to the front doors standing wide.

“Thanks, Harry.” Fred clapped his shoulder and started to leave.

“Hey, Fred?” Harry stopped him and he turned around to face the younger wizard. “I’m glad you’re alive. It wouldn’t be the same round here without you.”

A thousand quips and jokes rolled around in his head and when he opened his mouth to say one it was “Me too, mate. I’ve got a lot left to do before I’m ready to leave.”

Harry cracked a half smile and nodded and this time didn’t stop Fred when he went to jog off and find Hermione.

It was right out the front doors that he found her. She was sitting off to the side, on a pile of rubble. Her knees were drawn up towards her chest, head resting on them with her arms wrapped around her legs. If it wasn’t for the white knuckled grip on her wand Fred might have thought she was asleep. Careful not to startle her, he picked his way over to sit next to her. For a moment, they just sat there, and then her head lifted so that her chin was propped on a knee and she was looking at him.

“Hey, Fred.” She said softly, eyes scanning over his cut. His mother had put something on it that staunched the bleeding, but it would take awhile to heal, and there would always be a scar. “How are you feeling? Any pain?”

“It’s tender.” He admitted, touching a finger to his cheek just beside the gash. “But, I couldn’t let Bill have all the sexy face scars in the family.”

Hermione laughed at that, but it was rather weak and tired sounding.

“And you?” He asked. “How are you?” He’d heard about what happened at the Malfoy Manor. She currently wore a jumper, so he couldn’t see her arm, but he knew what would be there and his heart ached for her.

“Physically I’m fine.” She cocked her head a little. “Emotionally and mentally…a little unstable at the moment.”

“I imagine that’s a common problem at the moment.” He glanced around and remembered the too still bodies of Remus and Tonks, of Lavender and the little Creevey boy, and so many others. “Probably a problem that’ll last a while.”

“You seem okay.” She pointed out and Fred shrugged.

“I pretend better than others.” He shot her a grin, but she didn’t smile in return. Instead, she reached out to him with a hand. He didn’t hesitate before taking it in his and squeezing.

“You don’t have to pretend with me, you know.” She said carefully, watching their hands as she slipped her fingers between his and held on tightly. “We can…we can help each other, maybe. By being honest and feeling it. It doesn’t seem fair to those we lost to pretend not to feel it.”

A lump sprang up into his throat and Fred swallowed against it a few times. He shifted closer to her on the rubble, lifting their entwined fingers to rest on his outstretched thigh. Bringing his other hand over, he covered her hand completely with his.

“You’re right.” He said softly. “But what’s new about that.” He shoved her shoulder with his. “You’re always right.”

“I try.” She knocked his shoulder in return.

“I’m not good at not being happy.” He said a moment later. “I’m good at laughter and fun and jokes and mischief.”

“That’s not a bad thing, Fred.” She promised him. “But don’t ever forget that it’s okay just to…to hurt and to feel how your feeling, no matter what that is.”

“I feel…” he thought for a moment, of all the things running through him. “Angry, for those that would do this. I feel sad, for all the ones who didn’t make it. I feel immense joy that I’m alive and that my family is alive and that you’re alive, but then I feel guilty for that joy. Mostly, though, I guess I feel hope. Hope that we’ve done these things and taken these loses so that the world will be a better place.”

“Hope is good.” She smiled. “I like hope.”

“Me too.” He nodded.

They lapsed into silence again. It was comfortable, though, even if Fred wasn’t used to sitting still and not saying or doing anything.

“Fred?” Hermione asked after a moment, her head now resting on his shoulder.

“Hm?” he breathed into her hair.

“Thank you, for the broadcasts.” She pressed her head a bit harder into his shoulder. “Just listening, hearing you. It helped, and not only me.”

Fred felt a warmth spread out quickly through his chest. He hadn’t known if she was able to listen when he began leaving her little messages at the end of all his broadcasts. He never mentioned her name, both for safety and because he hadn’t known if she would want others to know. Maybe all she’d ever wanted was that single kiss from him.

“I’m glad.”

“Did you mean it?” she asked, still without lifting her head to look at him. “Did you mean that just once wasn’t enough?”

“Yeah.” He said easily with a nod. “I did.”

Her head lifted and she looked up at him. Her eyes were wide and hopeful and filled with so many things that he wanted to pick apart and dissect, but he also wanted to kiss her again.

“I want a lot of things now.” Hermione said, pulling his thoughts away from kissing. “I want to help rebuild this school. I want to come back and finish my last year. I want to work for the ministry to help make sure nothing like this is ever allowed to happen again.”

Fred smiled. Those were all very Hermione things.

“But I also want to laugh and smile and have fun. I want…I want to live life to the fullest I can. I want to travel and eat different foods and read every book I can get my hands on. I want to experience things and…and I want to fall in love.”

Fred swallowed hard, unable to escape the fact that the warmth in his chest was now spreading up his face. Those were all things that sounded like something he’d very much like to experience with her, only she hadn’t said anything about bringing anyone along for the adventures.

“Those all sound like good things.” He managed to say.

Hermione searched her face for a long moment, then her eyes flicked to his lips. “And I want to kiss you again.”  

Fred lifted a dirty hand, ignoring the scratches on the back of it, and cupped her equally dirty cheek.

“Sweet girl.” He shook his head with a smile. “I’ll kiss you whenever you want me to, for however long you want me to.”

“Let’s start with right now.” She leaned into him, her legs stretching out so that she could turn in his direction easier. “And we’ll work out the rest?”

“Hermione Granger, going in without a detailed five-year plan?” he joked lightly, nudging her nose with his when she wrinkled it up.

“I have a five-year plan.” She quickly corrected. “I just made sure to leave room for adjustment and adventure.”

Fred chuckled, then pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Tell me, sweet girl. Is there room enough in the adjustment and adventure for someone like me?”

He was willing to go with the flow most of the time, had practically lived most of his life like that, but in this, he wanted some reassurance that she wanted something more from him than just a fun stop on the rest of her journey.

“Fred.” She sighed his name, tipping her face so that their cheeks were pressed together, her free hand reaching around to hold onto the side of his head, careful of his wounds. “I don’t know a lot about the future and this new world, but there is one thing I’m certain of.” She raised her head to look at him. “You.”

That was it. The deciding factor. Now he had to kiss her. All it took was a tip of his chin and a little lean forward, and his lips were pressed against hers.

His first thought was, _finally_. After that, thoughts didn’t seem to matter anymore. Hermione, unsurprisingly, was the one to push the kiss further. The hand on his face held him tighter as she kissed him harder, tilting her head to the side so she could slot her mouth better against his. Fred parted his lips, let his tongue drag over her bottom lip and when she opened to allow him entrance, he took the invitation without question.

They kissed like that for a while, pulling back occasionally to snag a breath or to change position. Fred never wanted to stop, but the motion of opening and closing his mouth was starting to make his cut sting and besides, he could feel how much effort it was for Hermione to even keep herself upright. With one last sweet, chaste kiss, he pulled back, still holding her face. Hermione was smiling and blushing, but her heavy eyes were only part his doing. The girl really was exhausted.

“You need to sleep.” He rubbed her cheekbone with his thumb. “When’s the last time you actually slept?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged, eyes blinking heavily.

Fred chuckled, carefully extracting himself from her embrace to stand and then help her stand. Still holding hands, Fred led her back into the castle. After stopping for a quick word with his parents and for Hermione to tell Ron and Harry goodbye, they made their way off castle grounds. Without asking any sort of questions, Hermione wrapped herself around his middle and Fred apparated them to The Burrow.

“Go wash up, love.” He pushed her towards the bathroom. “I’ll make some tea.”

Hermione nodded and headed off. Fred went to the kitchen and quickly whipped up a pot before pouring two mugs. He set a couple of the spare pots to brewing more because he knew the rest of the bunch would be in soon and would want some.

Hermione came out a bit later, face and hands scrubbed clean and her hair wrangled into a frayed braid. Handing her the mug of heavily creamed tea, he followed her into the living room. With his own tea in hand, he dropped onto the corner of the sofa and leaned into the worn arm. Kicking his now bare feet up onto the coffee table, he held out his arm for Hermione to snuggle into his side. She did so with a small, tired smile. They finished their drinks with whispered conversation; her filling him in on the time she’d spent with Harry and Ron while he detailed what he’d been up to during that time. Eventually the tea was gone and the conversation dropped off. Fred let his head rest on the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. A few minutes later, Hermione’s body went completely relaxed beside him and he smiled at how quickly she’d fallen asleep against him. Sending both their mugs to the kitchen, Fred shifted further down into the sofa to get more comfortable. Tipping his head to the side, he buried his nose in the top of her head and a few minutes later, joined her in sleep.

A while later, the other Weasley’s started to trickle in. No one had the desire or the heart to wake the sleeping couple cuddled tightly around each other on the sofa. Molly stopped to drape a knitted throw blanket over them and Arthur readjusted his son’s legs into a more comfortable position. Everyone, except George and Ron and Harry, had questions about their seemingly sudden closeness, but no one asked right now. It wasn’t the time, and it was just nice to see a bit of happiness after so much destruction and death. Questions and answers would come later.

For now, they would rest, and together they could dream of the future and it’s endless possibilities.


End file.
